Complicated
by sunset moon dove
Summary: Azula captures Toph as part of an evil plot. But things get complicated when the two froge an unlikely friendship. The friendship forces Azula to ask the big quistions in life: Who am I? Why? Do I want to be me? And maybe change some of the answers. Tokka
1. Evil resides in you

**Okay this is kind of weird but different.... Azula takes Toph captive. Interesting no? I don't own Avatar**

"Princess! The little blind girl! The earth-bender that's traveling with the Avatar!" Zeong gasped, as he ran into the ship's former cafeteria, recently made into Azula's throne room.

"Calm yourself. What was so important about that idiot little earth girl, that you decided to interrupt me?" Azula said in bored tone.

"She's been seen, walking along the Mizuki River, the other guards and I have been able to deduce that the Avatar isn't with her, neither are the traitor, or the two water tribe peasants."

Azula's interest increased drastically. "So she's alone?" She inquired.

"Yes, princess." The guard said in a serious tone then added, "What do you wish us to do about her?" Zeong waited for her command.

A cruel smile played at Azula's lips. "Take me to her." Azula demanded, as the guards eyes boggled out of their sockets.

"You… p-p-personally Princ-c-cess?" Zeong stammered.

"You have ears. But I might have to have them cut off if you continue to question your princess's judgment." Azula threatened

Toph was walking along the river, hoping to find the beach. This wasn't how things were supposed to happen, she was supposed to be riding a flying bison, while feeling like she was about to be sick, due to lack of earth, with the sugar queen, twinkle toes, sparky, and Snoozels to keep her company. But no a storm had to hit, and she just had to fall of the bison, an onto this stupid hunk of land. Never had she loathed the earth this much, she'd take being nauseous, and riding a giant ball of fluff, with her friends, then walking along the river, on the ground, lost, any day. _Let's see I've been traveling this route for what? Ten, eleven miles? I should be at the shore anytime now. _The blind earth bender thought to herself. Toph's plan was simple. Get to the beach, then bend the sand into a huge SOS message. The gang would know that's where she was and finally rescue her. She'd walked another seven miles when the sun went down, to be replaced by the moon, when she heard, the sudden snap of a twig behind her. Toph whirled around on reflex to face whoever, or whatever was pursuing her. Then she felt them. Seven people, six men, and one woman. How had she missed them before? She should have felt them the moment there feet came within two miles of her. She didn't. She'd been to preoccupied with he own thoughts to notice. They were almost on her now.

**CLIFFIE! **


	2. You're really twisted

Toph took a defensive stance, as she felt the footsteps of her quickly approaching enemies. There were seven sets of feet, pounding against the earth, six pairs pounded against the ground, hard and heavy, and _strong_, then there was one more person, at the lead of the procession. Toph could tell a lot about a person just by the way, that she felt them walk. When she first met Aang she 'saw' his personality before she'd said one word to him, she knew he was like laughing, happy, quick, excited, bubbly, light, and determined, but most of all just plain goodness, and innocence. Normally Toph wouldn't have taken off like that, from such a good soul, but she'd been so overcome with anger, and hatred, she didn't think twice about what she had 'seen'. The person at the lead's footsteps clashed with the feet following her drastically, these steps, were more… dainty? No dainty wasn't the right word. These steps were… feminine? Yes that's the word. They were less clumsy, than the men, and they were swift and agile. They were even more powerful though, pounding into the ground with an almost impossible force. These feet, were smooth, and swift barely making impact with the earth, but the little impact was so forceful it left scars deep under the weeds, and yellow grass. Everything about them screamed that their owner was lethal, like a cobra, quick, powerful, and deadly. The feet that made prints, in the dust, and dirt, they treaded, were small, to small to be a full grown woman's. They were the feet of a young girl, Toph realized with a start. The feet told the story of the girl's personality. She was angry, impatient, wasn't scared of anything, and she had this bizarre fire inside her that was so hot it was freezing cold, and emotionless, but something in the way she moved pointed to something deeper, passion, and intensity. It wasn't directed at anything, it was just, there, part of her. Even deeper than that, she was, yearning, misguided, and even stronger than on the outside. She was twisted. _How can a girl only a year or two older than me be so much more… disturbed? _Toph wondered. She kept her defensive stance, as the enemy, came closer and closer.

The six soldiers and the fire nation princess approached with cat-like stealth. They could see her outline through the trees. She was in a defensive stance, it wasn't a very advanced move, but Azula knew better than to underestimate her opponent, she knew that if the girl, was good enough to be the avatar's teacher, than she had to be skilled with her element. Skilled enough to kill. The group pounded through the forest, along the Mizuki River, and drew nearer with every step. As they got closer, Azula saw more details about the earth kingdom girl. She had short raven black put up in a head-band; she had blank pale blue eyes. She was clad in a simple earth-kingdom dress, green and white, with gold trim. Azula noted that the girl was barefoot. _Simpleton. _She thought to herself, as she got closer and closer, to the plain, enemy.

Toph knew they were there. Just beyond the tree-line. She knew that if she could see, she'd gaze through the trees that were barely concealing them watching their body's prowl, like predator creatures, circling their prey. She knew they'd see disgust plainly visible in her eyes. They dared to come closer, and she showed no fear, as one of them took the final steps toward her. It was the girl, only a couple feet away. The soldiers emerged from the trees, after their leader.

And the Battle began.

Azula was the first to make her move. She hurled a large fireball at the black haired girl.

Toph didn't see the fire, coming her way. Of course she didn't. She couldn't. But she could fee the burning hotness, and ducked just in time. She raised a dense wall of earth to protect her, as she launched boulders, over the wall, into the air, right at Azula.

The guards were advancing, to fight with their ruler's daughter, but as Azula neatly dodged Toph's earth attacks, she put up a hand to signal them to stop. She wanted to finish her, herself. Azula then proceeded; to quickly climb up the trees, to get an angel on the girl, that wall couldn't protect the earthbender from up there.

With Azula taking to the trees, instead of the ground, she went out of Toph's range of sight. She couldn't fight, without being able to see her opponent.

Azula smiled as she gazed contently upon her enemy's, confused, utterly broken expression. She knew without the use of the earth, the girl was truly blind, in every way, and she wasn't on the girl's element anymore. The girl was hopeless.

Toph knew the end was near, but she didn't care. She cared much more about the way her story would come to a close. It hurt to know she'd die weak, and helpless, crippled, just like she'd been trying to prove all her life she wasn't. _Maybe if this is the way I die, then maybe it's a good thing, the Gangs not here to watch me fall. At least they'll remember me strong, not like this. _She thought to herself as she waited for death.

Azula, conjured up lightning in the palm of her hand, and striked, the girl down, with a swift blow to the back. She almost regretted what she had done, when she heard, the last intake of breath from the Avatar's young master, and the dull thud of the body as it collapsed lifelessly to the ground. Almost.


	3. But maybe with time you can be unbended

*_Azula*_

The wall of earth went down with the body. It crumbled to the ground leaving its leaving the dead girl, out in the open. Azula dropped from the trees, and walked over to her, and looked into her face. She had died with her eyes open, Azula noted as she scanned her victim's face.

_Maybe, she was hoping that before she died, she would see something, anything, even her own death coming._ Azula thought, as she gazed into the dead girl's wide unseeing eyes. _The one girl that can't see is the one that dies with her eyes open. How ironic. _

Azula continued to look into the girl's eyes, and for the first time, thought about how people looked after they died. They all looked like this dead little blind girl. Relaxed, perfectly at peace, limp, blissful, no matter how horrible and agonizing their death had been, they all looked like they had just simply fallen asleep. The girl looked exactly like that, except for one thing, she had her eyes open. _That's not how dead people are supposed to look. _Azula thought. _They're supposed to be sleeping. How can she sleep with her eyes open?_ Azula wonders why she even cares. She would be completely awake, and alive, if it weren't for her. But how could she not do this after all the suffering the girl had been through because of her? Azula shuddered as she thought about, how much that killing burn must have hurt. She had been burned countless times, but never bad enough to kill, and those minor burns had hurt worse than anything else, she had ever come in contact with. A killing burn… that must have been uncompressible suffering. How could she not grant the girl, just this one act of kindness? The guards were close by; she'd have to act quickly, and secretly, unless she wanted them to know about this. She leaned in the girl's face, pretending to be trying to get a better look, then extended two, pale, surprisingly gentle fingers, and closed the girl's eyelids for the last time. _There, _she thought with satisfaction,_ now she can sleep forever. _And Azula just walked away. On her way back to the ship, she marched up to one of the guards, and commanded, "Bury it." Pointing to the body. Then she continued to march away, on and on, away from her single act of mercy.

_____________________________________________________________________

Azula shook violently as she slept; breathing heavy, sweat forming on her brow, her head shook over and over, as if trying to erase the images that only she could see. This was how nights always were for the fire nation princess; she could barely remember a time when she slept any other way. It was the same old dream over and over again.

___________________________________________________________________

"_Ursa, you have to quit this! You're making our children soft, and weak!" Daddy, screamed at mommy._

"_Why? All it is is a little compassion, a little caring, a little…a little love. Why should I stop? It doesn't make them weak, it makes them stronger. Why should I stop? Why Ozai? Tell me why." Mommy yelled._

"_I'll tell you why, Ursa!" Daddy pulled me from where I was standing by the door, with Zuko, our younger eyes wide with fear. Daddy grips my shoulder firmly, as he roughly yanks me toward him. Being pulled that way hurts and I cry out in pain. Daddy just laughs. He slams me close to his body, and yanks up my red silk tank top, until my entire stomach is exposed. It's already burned and scarred, from so many other times, it's permanently disfigured. Mommy's eyes go wide like ZuZu's and mine. _

"_Ozai, no!" Mommy cries. _

"_You asked, to know why Ursa and I'm going to answer you. This is why." Daddy barks, while still holding my tank top up. He uses the hand he isn't using to keep my struggling form to his chest, takes a handful of my belly, and I start to cry because I know what's going to happen next. His hand heats, and heats, and within seconds, it's a burning flame, jammed into my stomach. I scream so hard. I try to run away from the hand, but he restrains me easily. The flame gets impossibly hotter, and it hurts so bad. I'm screaming and crying, and struggling. But he just laughs. _

_Through his sadistic chuckles he spit bitterly. "Maybe it wouldn't hurt so much, if you didn't make her so soft!" Mommy weeps, like she can feel my pain too. _

"_Ozai please, please, just let her go, she didn't do anything wrong!" begs for me. _

"_Do you vow, never to weaken my children again?" Daddy demands. _

"_Yes! Just let her go!" Mommy yells._

_He releases me, and I continue to cry, as I run over to Mommy, looking for comfort. Mommy would have hugged me and told me it was going to be okay, and I would have believed her. That's what would have happened, if Daddy wasn't standing there. And she hadn't just promised, to not do exactly that. _

_The memory morphs into a totally different seen, it was simple earth kingdom village. _

_Huh? This isn't how the dream is supposed to go!_

_I burn the houses of the villagers trapping them inside, and making them burn. I watch through a singed hole in one of the walls, with satisfaction, as an old man is crucified alive. I am younger then I am now, by two years, maybe a little more._

_The seen changes again._

_I'm in another earth kingdom town, this time only about a year younger than I am now. I'm in a large crowd. Suddenly, I just start firing, I don't aim at all, I have no goal, except to kill._

_The seen transforms once more. _

_I'm in Ba Sing Sae, talking to my brother. We go back to the ship, it starts off okay, but just before we were supposed to leave, he figures out why we were taking him home, and we fight, things burn. He burns. Why did I do that? I love my brother, why did I make him burn?  
_

_The seen goes black. _

_I'm standing on black nothing. Everything is blank, and pitch black. "Why?" A voice wheezes from behind me. It's the old man from the burning earth kingdom village. I can see him, perfectly clear, everything else stays the same but him. "Why?" He says again. I don't get it why, what? "Why?" He repeats. He fades away. "Why?" another voice says. I turn around again, and see a young woman. She's pretty, and tan, with brown hair. She has a yellow dress. The lady disappears as quickly as she came. "Why Azula? Why? All we want to know is why." A too familiar voice said from behind me. Zuko. I turn again to face my brother. I only catch a glimpse of him, before like a puff of smoke, he goes. Another image quickly takes his place. It's the girl. The one I killed today. "Why did you make me sleep?" She demands. She goes away, before I can even think of an answer. I'm left in the darkness, alone._

Azula wakes up shaking. She gets out of bed, almost immediately, she had surrendered all hope of falling back asleep, the moment she had started dreaming. She paced her room, back, and fourth, over and over again. Wondering every two seconds, what the hell a dream like that could mean. She stopped pacing only when she heard an urgent knock at her door. Who would dare disturb her at this hour? This was when she was normally sleeping, if she was supposed to be asleep, then they shouldn't be banging on the door. Not that she was asleep but still. "Come in!" She barked. A younger guard came through the door, he opened his mouth to say something, but Azula interrupted. "What do you think your doing disturbing me at this hour?" She demanded. "B-but it's ur-ur-g-gent princess…" The guard stammered. 'Well this better be damn good." Azula said impatiently. "The-the g-girl, the one that was traveling w-with the avatar, is sti-still alive." He stuttered. Azula's eyes went wide with shock.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?"


	4. A million souls you've killed

_*Azula*_

"HOW?" Azula demanded. "HOW IS SHE STILL ALIVE?"

"I do-do not kn-know princess." The guard stumbled over his own words.

"Take me to her!" She commanded. _Huh. I said the same thing this morning, when I was off to kill her, and now I'm saying it again, to see if she's alive. Go figure. _The guard grunted a quick agreement, and started to quickly lead her out of her room, along the ship's many floors, and up the stairs, onto the open deck. The massive ship was still docked, by the shore, of the island, waiting for the return of the soldiers sent to bury the enemy's body. Now a burial was no longer immediately required if the guard's tale was true. The guard, and the princess, got off the ship, and started walked the beach, until they came across the river that emptied into the ocean. They began to walk along the Mizuki river. An hour later, Azula, and the guard, were at the site, of the battle, that had taken place only hours ago. Remains, of the brutal fight still were present, Azula noted the scorch marks on the earth, and the broken wall, made by the powerful young bender, she had fought. Azula noticed something she hadn't noticed before. A pool of blood, where her victim's body had laid. As she stared at the red liquid, she as if in a trance, couldn't help but move closer, to the puddle of blood. Slowly she approached the pool, until she was right in front of it. Hypnotized by the blood of her enemy, she cautiously kneeled down beside it, and dabbled her fingers into the sticky red substance. She brought her hand back up, and to her face, she looked at the thin coating of blood dripping down her fingers. She then proceeded to stand up, and continue fallowing the soldier. The guard, had been looking at her, like she was stark, raving, crazy, the entire time, but didn't have the nerve, to say anything. The twosome continued their journey, in silence, as they turned into the woods and delved deeper and deeper, into the trees, and pre-dawn darkness. They'd been traveling for another half hour, when Azula started to hear, the chatter, of the fire-nation troops. They quickened their paces, at the sound, and within five minutes they were upon them. A group of five, sitting around a crudely dug, burial hole, talking loudly to one and other. _Funny. I could have sworn I sent six of them. _Azula thought, as she came closer. Even when she was only two feet away, the group still didn't notice her, and she was forced to clear her throat. Everyone jumped to attention the moment they became aware of her. Azula made a swift analysis of the area around the troops, and didn't see the earthbender. "Where is the girl?" She inquired in a firm tone. One of the soldiers, pointes to the west and said, "Ji took her over there, stupid kid won't leave her alone." Azula started marching off in the direction the man pointed, directing her escort to stay put. About ten yards deeper into the woods, she came across them. The girl, had been placed on a soft grassy area, she lay with her eyes closed, and perfectly still. _This girl can't possibly be alive._ Azula thought as she drew nearer, and noticed a boy. He only looked to be about twelve years of age, which didn't really surprise Azula, the army took anyone, no matter the age, he had green eyes, and shoulder length brown hair, thin pink lips, and was average in height. The boy stared at the girl, with a sad look in his eyes. _He must be Ji. _Azula noted. She approached quickly; Ji looked up at the sound of her footsteps. Unlike most soldiers he didn't immediately stand at attention and salute her, but went right back to staring sadly at the girl. When she was a couple feet away Azula asked. "Are you the soldier Ji?" She said it in a surprisingly quite voice. Azula was normally a very loud, demanding person, but for some reason she just felt like now was a time to be quite. Ji's eyes never left the girl, as he nodded a yes. Azula walked forward several steps more, and set down on the bare ground, only two feet away from the young soldier. Ji finally turned to the princess. "She's alive." He said gruffly and turned back to the girl. Azula looked at the girl too, and was captivated by the look on the girl's face. Her expression was totally at peace. Azula's mind wandered back to the subject of how you look when you die, only this time she thought, _Is this what I'll look like when I'm dead? Could I ever look that peaceful?_ She had no answer. Azula suddenly wondered _What was she thinking about when she died? _She was snapped back to reality, when she heard a locust chirping in the trees. "This girl is dead, look at her she's not even breathing! How can you possibly be so stupid that you think she's alive?" Azula exclaimed to Ji. Wordlessly the boy grabbed her hand, and brought it to the girl's wrist, where the veins were closest to the surface. At first Azula tried to pull away, but Ji's hand firmly kept her from moving her hand. Then Azula felt it. A dull, far away beating. A pulse. Her mouth dropped open in shock. The girl was still among the living. But how? Azula had brought her down, herself, yet here the girl was, her heart still stubbornly continuing to beat. It was impossible. Azula immediately looked to the girl's chest, and she witnessed with her own eyes, that the girl wasn't quite as still as she seemed. Her torso, weakly rose and fell. The girl was just barely breathing.

"She is alive." Ji finally spoke, repeating his earlier words. He let Azula's hand go then, and she quickly removed it. "What the hell happened? How in the name of god did you find this out?" Azula yelled in shock, at the young man. Ji shrugged, not taking his sad eyes off the girl. 'You ordered us to bury this girl. Two of them carried her. I wasn't one of them. We kept walking, until we got here. We dug a deep hole. I was the one that was supposed to put her in. I was just about to when, I felt it. Her pulse. I knew she was still alive, so I immediately put her on the ground, outside the hole, and shouted that she was still alive, and that we can't bury her because then she'll really die. 'So?' they said. And I said, 'So we can't bury her!' they said, 'Why not? She's supposed to be dead anyway. The princess wants her dead. Go ahead and bury her.' But I said 'No.' and they threatened me. Saying it would be treason if I didn't do it. But I still said 'No.' They said they'd send a messenger hawk to the fire nation capital right now, to report it, and I broke. I said 'Fine, but lets at least ask the princess what she wants us to do first.' They all groaned, and protested, but let me send a messenger, to you. At first the girl and I both stayed with the others but… I don't know. I guess I just thought… I got the vibe that… I just felt like… like if she knew where she was, she wouldn't like it one bit. Like she wouldn't have liked, being around them. So I brought her out her. And then you showed up. The end." Ji sighed as the story came to a close. He brought his hand up, and started a blue flame. It was a very advanced move, for someone his age. Azula didn't get why he was doing it, until he brought the flame to the girl's throat. "JI! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING? ARE YOU CRAZY?" Azula burst, as she slapped his hand away from her neck. Ji looked at her with confusion. "You don't want me to kill her?" He asked a thin trace of hope in his voice. "What were you thinking? You go through all that, to keep her from being buried alive, just to kill her yourself? You're insane!" Not answering his question. "You do _not_ want her dead?" Ji repeated his question. Azula stopped. _Do I want her dead?_ A blank look crossed her face. Of course she wanted her dead. She was the enemy! A direct ally to the freakin' avatar! Yet… even though Azula wanted to say, so much, that she wanted her slaughtered right now, she couldn't bring herself to say the words. _You've killed a million times before Azula, why should this be any different? _She asked herself. The difference was those times were different, in her eyes; she had been killing for the good of the fire nation, killing her enemies. But standing there looking at this girl, she couldn't bring herself to think of her, as what she was, the enemy, right now she was just looking at an innocent girl, with raven hair, and earth kingdom cloths. "I don't know." She whispered to Ji, answering his question. "I just don't know. I… I need time to think about this!" She said in an almost hysterical voice. Azula had never been this confused. "Take all the time you need princess, Neither of us are going anywhere. Just go back to the ship, think it over, and come back…" Ji tried to calm her. Azula decided to take him up on his suggestion, and started to run, away from the girl she thought she'd killed, and the soldier boy. "Princess!" Ji called. Azula stopped running, and spun around to face the boy. "Just one more thing… If you come back and… and you know. I might not be able, to… abide… by your orders. I'm sorry I just don't think I could kill her. When I tried to earlier, well… I was trying to fallow orders, but in the end, I know I wouldn't go through with it." After Ji finished Azula walked on. His comment was treacherous, but who was she to judge him? Right now she was thinking some pretty disloyal thoughts too. How could she punish him for what she's also doing? She kept walking until she came back to where the other men we're standing. Her escort tried to fallow her back the ship but Azula, ordered him not too. She wanted time alone. The guard did as he was told, and Azula left him behind. She continued to walk down the river the way she came, and this time didn't pause, when she came across the battle site. She actually was in a real hurry to get away from there. She kept walking, and walking, retracing the route from earlier. It was dawn by the time that she reached the ship, and by the time she boarded almost everyone was on the top deck, doing this or that. The moment Azula boarded, all the soldiers saluted her. She didn't acknowledge them at all; she walked right past them, and went down the stairs, and across the halls, until she reached her room. She hadn't locked the door she had been in such a hurry to leave, the night before, and the door swing right open, when she twisted the knob. Azula locked it from the inside this time; she didn't want to be disturbed. She needed desperately time to think. She walked into her room, and despite what she wanted to be thinking about, another thing caught her interest. The red on her walls. The color took her back through the years, and she realized that no matter where she was, or how old, she had always had the same shade of red walls. _Why?_ She thought._ My favorite color is blue. How in the word did I end up with red walls?_ Maybe it was just because she'd never noticed it before, she'd grown up with red walls, maybe it just had never occurred to her that she could paint her walls any other color. It had always seemed so natural to have red walls, for Azula that she'd never noticed their color before. Azula walked to the back of the room, and with her pale porcelain like fingers and caressed the crimson wall. Then she was captivated by another shade of red. A darker richer shade. The dried blood on her hands. The girl's blood. The one that was now lying almost dead, unconscious, with a twelve year old soldier. Azula stared at the blood with wide eyes. Her victim's blood was both metaphorically and literally on her hands. The blood brought Azula back to the awareness of the decision she had to make. She sighed, and went over to the soft bed, plopping down on it in exasperation. She continued to gaze at the enemy's blood. She thought of the girl's face, sweet, and innocent in peaceful sleep. It was impossible to think of anyone as the enemy when they looked like that. Like someone who had never seen trauma or war, like someone that was truly happy. You can't think of someone that looks like that, being someone who deserves to be slaughtered. _But does she deserve to die?_ Azula thought. She was the enemy. One of the weak, spineless people that it was her country's duty to red the world of. But it was just a girl. A kid. _Does a kid deserve to die?_ She asked herself. Ji's face popped into her mind _Does a kid deserve to go to war?_ Then her brother's face came into her mind, in her mind's eye Azula saw her father burning his eye _Does a kid deserve that? _Finally her own crying face came to her as she watched herself being burned by her father. _Does a kid deserve that?_ Then her mind went back to the girl's face. _Why did these horrible things happen to kids? My burns, Zuko's scars, Ji's hard life that was designed for a man, much older than him? All we were doing was trying to find our places in this damn world, and these horrible things happened to us. The girl must have been just doing the same, finding her place, that just so happened to be with the Avatar. Was that really her fault? It's just the hand she was dealt, and she's trying to make the best of it, just like the rest of us. Does she really deserve to die for doing what we all do? Why should a horrible thing befall her, for something that was just in her cards? _Azula thought about the girl for hours, when she finally got up, went to her washroom and cleaned the girl's blood from her hands. She had made her decision.

**Incase you haven't already guessed this Ji is going to be one of the major characters outside Toph and Azula, so remember him, btw his name is pronounced like the letter G. Thanks for all the reviews! Keep it up! **


	5. Author note

**Writer news: I'm taking a vacation, for 3 days. No internet access till then. Will update as soon as possible. ~Sunny**


	6. but one heart beat will save yours

**There hasn't been a lot of Toph action since the second chapter, so enjoy! You may have noticed I do most of my writing in 3****rd**** person, so just for your information if it's in italics, it can be a character thought or if it's longer than a paragraph (at most) it's more POV. This is basically what Toph feels as she dies, and what she's dreaming about, in her sleep.**

_*Toph*_

_Everything seemed to be going in slow motion, all the movements of the earth appeared to stop, and then I felt it. It started out as far away warmth, but as it got closer I felt the pain, it was way slower than someone watching from the outside might have thought. Each moment was individual from the others that I suffered. A singe. A light almost teasing burn, but as agonizing as any others. It hit my back, I tried to duck low right when it was barely an inch from me, but it was far too late. It started to burn my back, shattering my life, so much quicker than it had taken me to live it. _

_The pain was more intense than anything I'd ever experienced in my short lived life, yet it all seemed far away and almost forgettable through the thousands of thoughts that were pouring into my dying mind, yet I still felt it, and it was hell. It was so close but still a world away from where I was. I was determined not to scream or shed a tear, I wouldn't let them know I was hurting, I would suffer in silence._

_Everyone always left epic last words. Always. Something they left behind as their last impression to the world. What had been my last words? I hadn't said a thing as I'd walked down the river, hoping to find the beach, I hadn't said a word, during the battle, and I sure as hell wasn't saying anything now. What was the last thing I'd said? _

_I flick through my recent memories until I come to the one where I'd last spoken. The gang and I are on the road again, flying through the fire-nation, on Appa through gray clouds. Me and Sokka were riding toward the back, leaving Katara and Aang, at the reins, and Zuko somewhere in the middle. It was right before the storm hit. Sokka told a joke that was so funny I started laughing and swearing at the same time. Zuko mumbled something about how I had a worse mouth, than the soldiers on his ship. _

_Sokka and I kept laughing, and I kept swearing for another few minutes until Sokka stops for a moment and whispers quietly in my ear "You should stop, Katara's glaring at you." So I stop cussing, and subdue my wild laughing, to a quiet chuckle. Somehow Sokka and I ended up in a conversation about earth kingdom vs. the water tribes. _

"_And what makes you think that the earth kingdom is so much better than the water tribe?" Sokka asks._

"_Well for one I'm from the earth kingdom, and you're from the water tribe and I'm better than you."_

"_Hey!" He cries._

_Zuko whispers something quietly to Katara, that makes her laugh. We continue on talking._

"_I'm just speaking the truth!" I wave my arms in an innocent gesture, as a teasing smile plays across my lips._

"_Yeah, and the girl that scammed an entire fire nation village, and had her face put on a wanted poster, has always been the emblem of truth." He says sarcastically, referring to my brief stint as The Runaway. _

"_Whatever. Point is the earth kingdom is better." I tell him_

"_For the last time, it's the water tribes!"_

"_Earth kingdom!"_

"_Water tribe!"_

_That's when it happened. We had been so deep in conversation; I guess we didn't notice the signs. The deep gray clouds hadn't seemed to exist, and the rolling thunder we hadn't been listening to. It happened so fast. There was a flash of white light, and suddenly I'm falling, falling, falling, through the air. I was screaming, screaming, screaming. I didn't hear anyone else's screams. They must have been able to stay on Appa through the lightning._

"_Tooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooph!" I hear Sokka yell desperately from somewhere up high. _

_Those were my last words._

_When I remembered that small piece of my twelve years, it was like making a hole in a dam. Other memories flooded my mind. The first time I met Aang. The day I left home. Katara and I at the spa… I could remember everything here in this little niche between life and death. Back in reality I'm burning, and in pain, but it's still not that noticeable through the clouds of thoughts, as I fall to the ground. Earth kingdom. Those were my last words. How boring. Even though I was dying the one thing I could actually focus on, wasn't the suffering, or the memories, it was those words, and how boring they were. I couldn't let myself go, like that. I felt my strength draining from me, and my wide open blind eyes, starting to glaze over. This was it. I couldn't let those be my last words! I didn't have much time left, maybe a couple more instants, and I would be gone, like a puff of smock. Your last words were supposed to be an emblem of who you were alive, just a little something to remember you bye. "Earth kingdom" was anything but that for me._

_Sure I loved my country, but I didn't want to die with those words! I scrambled to come up with something better as quick as I could. What did I have to say, that I really wanted someone to listen to? _

_I'd die the way I lived. Blunt, simple, and short._

_I weakly whisper to no one but myself, so quietly I can barely hear it, as the strength goes from me. _

"_Damn it."_

_Those would be the last words. I liked them better. Maybe if I wasn't dying I could have composed something a little more impressive, but come on when had I ever planned a thing?_

_My open eyes glaze over, and my body relaxes into the earth, the soul inside it had loved. I'd never felt so at peace in my life. I see a color, I'd only ever seen in my dreams. Summer sky blue. Nothing else. Just endless Blue, everywhere. _

_It wasn't a big shock or surprise when I saw it. Sometimes when I was sleeping, I'd dream, dreams where I could see. Really see. Dying was supposed to be like falling asleep except for it's so deep that you don't wake up._

_The sounds in my ears fade, the smells in my nose disappear, the wind on my face becomes a distant far away feeling, then ceases to exist at all, every memory, every friend, every foe, every thought, and feeling slowly vanish into the blue oblivion. _

_And I let go. I finally stop clinging to things I'd held so dearly in life. I let go of everything. Aang, Katara, Zuko, Sokka, my hates, my loves, my secrets. I let them all fade one by one into the vast forever. I'm left floating. I look back and I see, a young girl lying on the grass, her grey-blue eyes glazed and blankly staring into nothing. I turn my back on her, and leave her behind, and I let myself fall into the blue, and fade away myself._

_I'm not left drifting. I thought this would be the end, but it's not. Not really. I stay in the bliss of the blue, for what felt like not long enough, but I know I've been there for a long time. It was so nice there. I could see, and it was so relaxing, no thoughts, no feelings, I could just forget there. I want to stay, but when I see him in the distance I know I can't._

_I thought the blue had nothing in it but the color, and the dreamy thoughtlessness but I looked at him, and I knew that was a lie. It was a mole-badger. I'd never seen one before, but some small part of me that was still conscious knew somehow that, that's exactly what it was. It had a small white face, with beady eyes, that were intelligent and kind, with black streaks on his cheeks, and a big brown body. He lumbered toward me with a certain clumsy grace that was so strangely beautiful, it wouldn't have been possible anywhere but here. _

_The creature came closer and closer to me, and I wasn't afraid. When he was barely a foot away I could swear he smiled. He grunts, and beckons, for me to fallow him. I know he's not a normal beast, but one sent to accompany me on my journey into the spirit world. I fallow. I almost wish I could stay lost in the blue, floating forever, in the calm and peaceful, in the happy and forgetful bliss, forever, but I know I can't. So I just fallow._

_We walked. Sometimes my animal companion would out run me with his four strong powerful legs, but he would always slow and let me catch up. I let him lead me, on, and on, through the blue._

_I can't really say where the blue ended and the spirit world began, they blended so perfectly together. The spirit world didn't seem all that much different from the world of the living. Except it was so much more extraordinary. The sky was the color of indigo jewels, and the grass was a deep green. Million year old oaks and willows towered over us, their ancient branches intricately binding together, and coming apart, so beautifully. The moon still prevailed to shine here too, only it was that much more bright._

_My guide didn't stop to enjoy this lovely place, but just walked on, never pausing. I left it behind, and continued to fallow._

_We came to places that were so scenic, I can't remember them now. We never stop. We continue on and on. _

_We confronted no one, and searched no one out, on our journey. We never tried or weakened, we stayed strong. The sun had passed over the horizon many times when we finally reached a clearing. It was flat, and nice, the sun beate without trouble there, but I never grew warm, or cold. The mole-badger stopped, and looked into my face, then walked through the trees, and left me._

_I don't try to fallow him. This is where he'd been leading me all along. I notice for the first time a path, in the dirt. It's laden in grey stepping stones. This time I let the trail lead me. I follow along it's many stones until I look up, and see a white fence, like the ones some rich people had. What's a fence doing in the spirit world? A gate is open, almost seeming to beg me to walk through it. I fall into the temptation, and allow myself to walk through._

_I find myself surrounded by lovely flowers, especially columbine, lily, and heather. So many colors, purple, pink, blue, lavender, yellow… I walked through the garden of wonders, and I know I was a fool to want to stay in the blue, when I could have had all these other colors, and scents, and joys. I walk until I look up again and see a lady dancing in the flowers. She has a wreath of wild flowers, in her pretty, golden hair. She's so tall! She has freckles across the bridge of her nose, and a permenate blush in her cheeks. She wears a dress, in a color, that doesn't even exist. She could be a goddess she was so beautiful. _

_She stopped mid twirl, when she saw me, and her eyes become impossibly brighter, as she smiles dazzlingly. She dashes toward me with the speed of a graceful doe. _

"_Ah, I've been excepting you." She says cheerily, but in an accent I just can't recognize._

"_Who are you?" I ask in awe. _

"_You may call me Gia. Do you know why you're here, Nea?" Gia inquires._

"_Nea?" I question wanting to know the meaning of the word she's called me._

"_Nea means young one, in my language. Now do you know why you're here, Nea?" She repeats patiently._

"_Because I'm dead." I answer in confusion. What other answer could there be? I was in the spirit world and I sure as hell wasn't the avatar. _

_Gia just laughs. I don't get the joke._

"_Oci, __agapeemenee Nea! Sy eiohe a tellhos akoun! Sy eiohe aioh zwvtao! Anwo oioti sy eiohe ev o eykynhatikoa sy qpovw sy eiohe vekpo!" She yells in a foreign language that sounds a hell of a lot like gibberish. _

"_Um… what?" I say in confusion. Gia laughs and shakes her head then sighs._

"_You're not Greek are you agapeemenee?"She muses._

"_I thought I was Nea?" I scratch my head._

_She laughs again._

_._

"_No I suppose you're not Greek. I suppose that means you don't know who I am." She chuckles._

"_You're Gia." I declare, as I start to wonder if this strange woman is crazy._

"_That's just one of my many names darling Nea. I am most commonly known as Gae but I like Gia better. Plus I thought it would be easier for you to pronounce. I guess you could say I'm… the spirit… of the earth. Maybe you'd know me as Da Di?" Gia ventures._

"_What? Mother earth?" Yeah this girl has taken one too many shots of vodka. _

"_That's right. Do recognize me know agapeemenee?" She says sweetly._

_I looked into her face, and I remember something my nanny told me long ago._

"_Toph, did you know your element has a goddess?" She asks, as an opening to one of her wonderful stories._

"_No!" I exclaim in anticipation._

"_Well you do. She's the most beautiful of all immortals, and she was the first too, her name is Da Di. Mother earth. She was impossibly pretty, and graceful, born out of the air, she was the first person. She had blue eyes like the ocean, and golden hair, always clad in a wreath of flowers…"_

_A wreath of flowers…_

_I know there was more to the story but the rest didn't matter. I was looking at a character from one of my nanny's stories…_

_Da Di goddess of the earth. The only thing that I could say, was a lot of sputtering and finally._

"_Holy shit your Da Di!" Not exactly the heavenliest thing I could say but it's what I did. I was a little afraid Gae/Gia/Da Di would offend her but she just laughed good naturedly and smiled. _

"_Oh I am Da Di! I guess I never noticed…" She joked happily. "So as we were saying, you think you're here because you're dead?" She states._

"_Why else would I be here?" I inquire. Gia laughs again._

"_Why should you be here because you're dead prey tell?" She reverses my question._

"_Well this is the spirit world, and this is where you go when you're dead." I say._

"_Do you really think you're dead, Nea?" Gia asks._

"_Do you think I'm not?" I reply._

"_I know you're not." She answers._

"_How am I alive? I died."_

"_Yes you did. But we're putting you back. Your purpose isn't yet fulfilled yiyoa agapeemenee. For your heart must beat to save another." She states seriously._

"_What?" I ask. Even if she is a goddess, that still doesn't disprove my theory about the vodka I guess._

"_That's my prophecy Nea. Now go back to your world, where you belong."_

"_What? How? Why?"_

"_Just open your eyes."_

**Sorry to all the Azula fans but I felt like I was neglecting Toph. I promise there will be more of her, in the next chapter!**


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